‘I don’t feel as worthy as someone living in a house’

SLEEPING rough makes you feel like you’re not a real person, says Scott — an unemployed former fruit picker and farmhand who now lives in a tent in Hobart’s suburban bushland.

He said living such a life made him feel less worthy than people who had a house.

“I don’t feel as worthy as someone who lives in a house, who has a 9-5 job and a partner,” Scott said.

Scott said he was forced into homelessness after his relationship of 10 years went sour.

After the break-up, he first lived under a tree in St David’s Park and then he couchsurfed. He said he had been on the public housing waiting list for two years and increased rents had forced him out of the rental market.

“My head is still back in those four walls and I really want to go back there, but I can’t and I have to live with that,” Scott said. “So I am waiting just like every other person on that housing list.”

Scott has been sleeping in a tent pitched in bushland on the outskirts of Hobart for the past four months.

He has a camp fire and a few cooking pots and pans and a 10-litre bottle of water.

He said although he mostly slept soundly on his air mattress snuggled under two sleeping bags, sometimes he felt unsafe.

“I miss having the security of a roof, four walls and a door,” he said.

He showers daily at the Richmond Fellowship drop-in centre in Patrick Street.

He also uses the facilities there to wash and dry his clothes and he helps to cook breakfast and lunch for other Tasmanians doing it tough.

“It’s great to be able to use the computers here and to have a shower because you feel horrible if you are not clean,” Scott said. “Helping with the food preparation gives me something to do during the day. It’s great to be able to talk with other people here. The social connection here is very important.”

The drop-in centre is designed for people with mental health issues but the woman who runs it, Amie Blyth, said the number of homeless people walking through the door had doubled in 12 months.

Scott said seeing many empty Hobart buildings was difficult for someone living rough. “It makes me feel annoyed because there are people who really need a roof over their heads,” he said.

I miss having the security of a roof, four walls and a door